


Snippets from Kembleford

by Madelite



Category: Father Brown (2013)
Genre: M/M, Trans, Trans Character, Trans Male Character
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-27
Updated: 2019-04-27
Packaged: 2019-12-25 22:32:43
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 287
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18270527
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Madelite/pseuds/Madelite





	Snippets from Kembleford

Aristide Valentine was not a particularly proud man. He was a smug man, sure, even infuriating at times. But he recognised his limitations and generally accepted, sometimes even asked for, help.

None of this made being vulnerable, or honest, easier.

He knew the Father. He joked about the later being a renegade because he knew the priest would accept without judgement. He believed in the inherent goodness of murderers, of course he wouldn't judge. And as for indiscretion, if he was really worried, there was always the seal of the confessional. He knew the Father would take a confession from an atheist.

Still, it hurt.

The reason he'd been promoted in the first place was due to Father Brown's detective skills, not his own. So this demontion felt like proof of ungratefulness. Not that he was! Ungrateful that is.

But this was weighing much too heavily on him. He was hurt; consumed with anger and sadness. He needed to tell someone, for his sake.

He needed to share this burden, this injustice. He'd been demoted because he was trans. And it wasn't fair.

When he told the Father, the man reacted much as he'd predicted. He sympathised without showing pity. He didn't judge.

He also looked Aristide straight in the eye and told him to be proud of himself, unashamed, no matter what. It nearly reduced the man to tears.

Holding them back, he thanked the Father and made one request of him; not to tell the others. He wished to come out to them all, but on his own terms, individually. (In the end he didn't use the confessional. He trusted the priest, and besides, using the confessional while not believing in it felt somehow sacrilegious.)


End file.
